Watch the play 'Unspoken' online

23rd May 2022

Unspoken, a hit play about the experiences of living with a stammer, is now available online. Watch it here and read about how it helped change public perceptions of stammering.

The play centres around the main character Alex, a young man who has been hiding his stammer all his life. We meet Alex (played by Oliver Sapier) as he's preparing for a special night out — tonight's the night he plans to propose to his girlfriend.

However, this event appears less important as Alex is trying to decide whether or not to tell the woman he loves the secret of his stammer. As memories of his past stammering experiences flood his thoughts, he must choose. Will he tell her, or once again let the stammer remain something unspoken?

Watch the video and read more below.

The play was written by Neil Rathmell in collaboration with Dr Trudy Stewart, a consultant speech & language therapist specialising in stammering. The actors in the play (all from Leeds Arts Centre) worked with members of the stammering community to ensure that their performances depicted accurate and genuine experiences associated with stammering.

The play was performed in Leeds, London and Antwerp. It was nominated for Best Play by the Leeds City Arts Guild and was featured on BBC Look North, BBC Radio 4's Today programme and BBC Radio Leeds, as well as several local radio stations.

changing attitudes

In addition, Unspoken was the subject of a number of research investigations looking at the effect the performances had on public attitudes to stammering (Editor: see our article 'Stammering and the power of theatre'). As part of the research, comments from the audience were gathered after the performance. Below are some of those comments.

Non-stammering audience members said: 

• "Looking back at last Saturday night what I love best is that we discussed 'Unspoken' all the way home and then again some more the next day. And that's a sign of a great play and a great night out."
• "It made us think about the issues related to speech and how it affects people's lives and personal confidence. We thought about people we have known personally through our lives who have had problems with speech and it made us think about how their lives have been affected."

An audience member who stammered said: 

• "It was great to see the knowledge and experience I have of stammering brought to life like this. This is the first time I'd seen anything where I thought the general public would actually get a true understanding about the struggles we have."

Speech & language therapists commented:

• "The ardent emotions Alex characterises also serves to remind me not to become complacent in my vocational role; the feelings and negative thoughts of the people I work with every day and their families are real to them and run deep. It is important to see every new person as unique and to begin each new therapeutic relationship freshly as if what you hear, observe and sense has been experienced for the first time."
• "The impact of stammering on an individual can still really hit home. The play served as a powerful reminder of this...Perhaps it was the visual dimension to his [Alex's] experiences that I found so powerful; perhaps the relentless impact of his stammer on his life view... In the play, it felt that these themes were compressed and became more concentrated, hence the impact on me."

All the comments showed that the play had had a significant impact on audiences; their understanding and feelings toward stammering.

This film of the play's premiere performances was produced by Trudy Stewart and Jonathon Linklater. Financial support was provided by STAMMA for the recording and distribution of this production.

Further reading and research:

Stewart, T., Linklater, J. & Railton, P. (2017). Beyond Understanding: the use of theatre to change public attitudes to stammering. ISAD online conference.

Stewart, T. (2019). Unspoken: a social experiment in changing theatre audiences' attitudes to stammering. In Fluency Disorders, Vol. 2. Eds., K. Wesierska & M. Witkowski. Pp117-132. University of Silesia Press.

Linklater, J., Stewart, T. & Railton, P. (2018). Acting in Unspoken: changing actors' attitudes to stammering. European Symposium on Fluency Disorders, Antwerp.

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